1. Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers (Contemporary Fiction) - I was happy to be able to get a hardcover copy of this book from BOTM for February, and this book was so incredibly good. This was a contemporary story that strongly focused on Grace Porter finding herself after years of schooling and getting her PhD in her field of astronomy. Grace had complicated relationships with both parents, especially her father who demanded a lot and was an ex-military Colonel, but didn't realize how much her pushing herself constantly was affecting her mentally. I enjoyed Grace's friendships and how supportive everyone in them was of each other and how much they all loved each other. I loved Grace's separate relationships with Ximena, Agnes, and Yuki, and how each relationship was different but all very strong. This was a great book, with some tough parts but many heartwarming parts as well.
2. The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson (Contemporary Fiction) - This was a good story that was mostly about family and some secrets from the past coming to light. The impetus is Ruth's husband wanting to start having children with her, while she has not yet told him about the baby that she gave birth to in high school. This leads to some issues between her and the husband, Xavier, who I do think is a good guy that cares about her. I enjoyed the perspectives of both Ruth and Midnight. I felt for what Midnight was going through with the struggles in his life, even if he did some questionable things that I did not agree with. I liked the unexpected connection that Ruth had with him. I like how as a reader I could figure out fairly early on who Ruth's son was, but there was the tension of waiting for her to come to that same realization.
3. Girl A by Abigail Dean (Contemporary Fiction) - This was a powerful and dark story of the various impacts that trauma has on different people. Lex and her siblings grew up with parents who gradually became harmful to them. Lex was "Girl A" in the papers, the one who had escaped and brought the police to her house. She was a strong character, and had complicated relationships with all of her siblings in the present day. Lex has some good friends in the present, especially Olivia, who doesn't get a lot of page time in the scheme of this entire story, but who was part of one of my favorite scenes in the book, which was when Lex hadn't told her friend yet about the past and saw people dressed as her Mother and Father at a Halloween party. This novel was well-written, and easily switched between the past and present. There were multiple scenes in the past where I wished someone like a teacher or a friend from school would have found out the truth, as you could tell that they sensed something a bit off about Lex, but had no idea what was really going on in her house. This book also deals with the ideas of forgiveness, with the siblings having various relationships with Mother once she was convicted and imprisoned.
4. Infinite Country by Patricia Engel (Literary Fiction) - Not all literary fiction is my cup of tea, often because I get bogged down in the writing, but this one definitely was my cup of tea. It was a short book (only 191 pages) but a lot was packed into these pages. I took my time with this one because it felt like a story that needed to be savored more slowly to get the full impact. This was a story about family separated in different countries, and the challenges this caused for them. It was told in many perspectives over a span of more than 15 years. I think my favorite character to read about was Talia, though I also liked the others as well. Talia had done something that had landed in her a juvenile detention center, but the morality of what she did was debatable since that person had done something very bad as well. I liked to see her development as she traveled to be reunited with her mom and siblings. This had a lot of powerful themes and messages and many good lines.
5. Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour (Literary Fiction) - This was such an interesting, page-turning story. It is written as a bit of a satire, with some situations becoming exaggerated, and the story went to some truly wild places. The character development was fantastic, with Darren starting out likeable then becoming less likeable as he took on the "Buck" personality, and then becoming more likeable again. The book kept me flying through as I had to know what would happen next and how the story ended. There were some strong secondary characters, from Rhett to Clyde to Rose to Brian and others. Not all of these characters were likeable but many were. I do not agree with all of the decisions made by the characters but found them all intriguing.
6. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner (Historical Mystery) - I read this book in about a day. It took a little time to get into at the beginning, but once the story picked up, I couldn't put it down until I found out what had happened. The book was one part historical and one part contemporary, and both timelines were compelling. I liked Eliza, Nella, and Caroline. It was interesting to read about Nella and the questionable morality of her actions. Her relationship with Eliza was enjoyable to read about. There's a lot I can't say about the plot without giving too much away, but I will say it was a delightful book to read. One of my favorite things about the book was that it explored a topic/time in history that I don't know much about. I feel like one of the great parts about historical fiction is getting to explore a new time period, so this book was definitely good for that.
